Start with the Ending

Happy New Year! I’ve been enjoying the holiday season this last month, including some time with extended family. A few days ago I was having a conversation with my mother-in-law about end-of-life decisions. She is 78 and so it is appropriate to be thinking about, and planning for, such things.

In addition, Alan and I had an appointment with our financial planner and he raised these kinds of questions with us—What about your will? Who has access to it? Does your family know what you want? How will they pay for it? He jokingly mentioned that no one likes to talk about these things, but it really is necessary. We agreed.

After these two encounters with “the end of things” an old song flashed into memory. It’s a David Wilcox song entitled Start with the Ending. It’s really a song about marriage, but in the middle is a great spoken section where he describes how beautiful a life would be if it were lived in reverse. (At minute 5:15 you can hear his clever reversed-life prose).

Here are a few lines from the chorus:

When there's no pretendingThen the truth is safe to sayStart with the endingGet it out of the way

Now, there's no defendingBecause no one has to winStart with the endingIt's the best way to beginIt's the best way to begin

Wilcox describes how the mindset of “beginning with the end” brings the truth to the forefront, enabling a more honest and loving life.

Beginning with the end may be helpful as you think into your own life and future. How would bringing the end to mind cause you to live differently today?

As you think into your next few months, or even as you think into this day, how can these words guide you, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matt. 16:25)

One part of ourselves that we want to lose is our false self. That part of us that isn’t really real. It tries to keep itself alive using many and various tactics, including the ongoing search for security, esteem or control.

This is the time to let go of the clinging desire for these from any external source. And then remember that God meets us in these places with his great love.

Look at these words again, in light of what we’ve talked about so far:

When there's no pretendingThen the truth is safe to sayStart with the endingGet it out of the way

Now, there's no defendingBecause no one has to winStart with the endingIt's the best way to beginIt's the best way to begin

No pretending. The truth is safe. No defending. It’s not a contest. Start with the ending. And begin.